From "marchands de fille" onwards ,Maurice began a cycle of movies dealing with the plight of the prostitutes ,displaying a social concern,and ruining it with ludicrous over the top melodramas .

Alice, the heroine, is a former prostitute ;she was born of an unknown father ,she would walk the street since she was 16 ; she wants to start all over again and now she works in a pharmacy where the boss woos her ,asking her to divorce her husband : she turns his advances away ;a phone call urges her to come back to her home where her husband ,a working man, is seriously ill ; her mother-in-law ,an overpossessive mom insults her and she's so petulant that the poor wife throws the hateful shrew out of the house.In the meantime ,her former pimp comes back and wants her to help him with his lucrative (but shady) business.And would you believe it? the poor hubby dies and his miserable wife is accused of poisoning him .She's arrested and sent to jail.

Well ,that's only the first fifteen minutes !

Now for the depiction of the prisons : Maurice Cloche is not Robert Bresson ("les anges du péché" ) by a long shot and he is not particular about details : strip search (but the prisoner keeps her bra, she takes it off outside the picture), suicide,lots and lots of screams , informers, a (topless) inmate is mauled by prisoners who have gagged the warden ,severe (female) headwarden but human (male) one.All the clichés are here.

It's the heroine 's descent into Hell.She claims her innocence ,nobody but the chemist and her mom do believe her.First she rebels against this unfair retribution (she was pregnant -by her husband- when she was imprisoned ,and her mom takes care of the baby boy who was born in the jail hospital).

Will she be vindicated?

The cast is first-class, and it's pearls before swine when you deal with such rubbish :Danielle Delorme makes the best of her thankless part ;Jacques Duby reprises the part he played in " Thérèse Raquin" ,mommy's little boy ,but he's more headstrong and determined.; Jane Marken puts on again her act of the horrid mom-in-law : in "manèges " ,she was frighteningly efficient ,here she verges on self-parody; and one could expect more of the Delorme /Germaine Kerjean reunion , who were daughter /mother-in-law in 'voici le temps des assassins", headwarden and inmate here .

This is proof positive that highly talented actors are not enough;without a realistic screenplay (the ending is downright embarrassing) ,and a great director (Duvivier,Bresson , Yves Allégret) , this plea for the humanization of women's jails is not convincing at all.

French-language cinema, whether in France, Québec, or other Francophone regions, explores cultural identity, social change, and the tension between the individual and society. French cinema is not only celebrated for its intellectual experimentation and auteur traditions, but also its success in mainstream comedy, romance, and commercial entertainment. In Québec, films often focus on questions of language, belonging, and community within a distinct cultural landscape.

Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows (1959)

The crime genre features criminal activities, investigations, law enforcement, crimes, and the pursuit of justice. Crime stories often revolve around the planning, execution, and consequences of criminal acts, as well as the efforts to solve and prevent such acts. They explore various aspects of criminal behavior, motives, and the moral dilemmas faced by both perpetrators and those seeking to uphold the law.

James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

Alice Rémon, a pharmacist, is a prostitute who managed to leave the streets by getting married. Her husband dies one day, poisoned. Her mother-in-law, who hates her, accuses her of murder.

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